Lock and secure

The next morning, Luo Yao threw all the wasted paper into the kitchen stove.

After breakfast, Luo Yao called Li Xian over.

The two men were discussing in front of a map, which was the Dacheng map borrowed by Lu Hong and used for escorting darts.

"Even if there are disaster victims in the town, they're not necessarily from the north. And as you said, you only saw one or two, so it doesn't necessarily mean there are large-scale disaster victims."

“If there really were disaster victims, where would a large influx of them come first?”

"Young Master, the north and south are separated by the Anxi River. The northwest belongs to the prince, who has well-managed his territory. It's been less than two years since the prince returned from the campaign. Even if there's a drought, the northwest shouldn't be in turmoil. If there were, the prince would surely have known about it early. Droughts rarely occur in the northeast, and they primarily affect the northern Khan Province. If there are indeed disaster victims, the first to flock to them will undoubtedly be the counties along the Anxi River in Yuanzhou and Zhezhou!"

"However, the Anxi River flows rapidly, and not all places are accessible by boat. Therefore, the three most critical places are Yuanzhou Lianyu County, Zhezhou Heyao County, and Zhezhou Lin'an County. These three counties have large ferry terminals that connect directly to Hanzhou."

Luo Yao supported his head and looked at the three positions of Li Xian's fingers. No way, this Lin'an County is also his hometown in Zhejiang Province!

Luo Yao is very stupid.

A voice said: Alas, you have no food, no ships, no copper coins, no soldiers or generals, you are just a powerless and impoverished princess!

Another voice said: "How can you bear to watch those people starve to death, to see them trapped in the flames of war? You are the Princess of Yong'an, the Crown Prince of the Duke's Mansion, your father, mother, and grandfather were all powerful and ruthless generals! Don't you want to protect your family and be with them forever?"

Luo Yao tried hard to throw these thoughts out of his head.

Everything is just speculation now, and we need to verify it quickly before taking the next step.

If these disaster victims were allowed to cross the Anxi River, Dacheng might actually face a change of dynasty! Although dynasties change and history continues to move forward, if these disaster victims cross the Anxi River and a civil explosion really occurs, the war will spread and burn every inch of Dacheng land. Then he will lose everything important!

It rained for two consecutive days and Luo Yao was worried all day. Through Li Xian and Lu Hong, Luo Yao roughly understood the situation of Anxi River in these two days.

A small number of disaster victims have appeared in the counties near the Anxi River. Many people do not take it seriously. The counties and counties just set up porridge sheds to provide disaster relief as usual. They are not even aware of the increase in the number of disaster victims.

If no action is taken, the drought-stricken summer, the barren autumn, and the snowy winter will surely lead to a massive migration of disaster victims southward! A civil explosion is only a matter of time!

It started to drizzle again in the afternoon, and there were only a few people coming and going to worship in the Temple.

Luo Yao stood in the main hall holding an oil-paper umbrella, watching the people kneeling and kowtowing in the Buddhist temple. The candlelight flickered, smoke was lingering, and the extremely ordinary Buddha statue stood there quietly, looking at Luo Yao silently.

In the Buddhist temple, a white-haired old woman in her sixties or seventies was pulling a little girl of six or seven to kowtow.

After bowing her head, the little girl stood up, but the old woman struggled for a few times but couldn't stand up.

The little girl didn't seem surprised by this. She helped her grandmother up and carefully walked out of the hall with her support. Both of them were in tattered clothes, and their straw raincoats were full of holes. The old woman was trembling, and I don't know if it was because she knelt and kowtowed, but her legs were shaking with every step.

Luo Yao went over to help support the old man. "Old man, the mountain roads are slippery due to the rain. I don't know what you are praying for. Why did you come all the way to the Shengsheng Temple to worship Buddha in such a rainy day?"

The old lady groaned and touched her lower back. "My dear, you are clean, please don't touch my clothes and dirty yourself. I come here every fifteenth to pray for my son who is guarding the border. He has been away for five years... He has been fighting every year... I don't know if he is still alive..."

The little granddaughter beside her immediately got red in the eyes when she heard her grandmother say this. Although tears were welling up in her eyes, she still comforted her grandmother, "Don't worry, grandma, Daddy will definitely come home for the Chinese New Year this year. Yaya dreamed about Daddy a few days ago, and Daddy said he would come home for the Chinese New Year this year!"

The two of them supported each other as they walked into the rain. Their raincoats had big holes in them. The little girl's was slightly better, but the old man's shoulder was half wet, and his trouser legs were full of wet mud.

Luo Yao watched them go away, then looked down at the mud on his palm. The falling rain washed away the stain. Then he looked into the hall. The people who came to kneel down had all left. Through a layer of mist, a man and a Buddha looked at each other in silence.

A man walked out of the Buddhist temple and bowed to Luo Yao.

"Little benefactor, why don't you come under this eaves to take shelter from the rain?"

Luo Yao reacted, walked to the prince with an umbrella, folded the umbrella and bowed to the man.

"Meet the Master Abbot."

The two stood under the eaves, looking at the rain outside. The old abbot stretched out his wrinkled hands to catch the rainwater flowing down from the eaves.

The two stood under the eaves in silence for a long time. The old abbot patted Luo Yao's shoulder gently and turned to leave.

Three days later, Linguan County was in danger, with its population of more than 30,000 reduced to less than 20,000.

In the Zhongsheng Temple, Luo Yao and his group said goodbye to the monks.

The old abbot personally took three sticks of tall incense and led the monks in praying for Luo Yao and his party. He then took off the red cloth from the Buddha altar, cut it into strips, twisted them into thin ropes, and personally tied them around everyone's wrists.

"May this little donor be blessed with good fortune and a smooth journey. Amitabha."

Several respected elders in the temple came to see them off, and many young monks had tears in their eyes.

Luo Yao helped the old abbot up, bowed and said goodbye to everyone, and the group hurried down Daci Mountain.

Luo Yao felt relaxed as he set out on the journey north.

In this world, his name is Luo Yao, the heir apparent of a state-guarding general and duke. His parents are renowned guardians of the nation. For generations, the Luo family has protected the people of this land, willingly sacrificing their lives on the battlefield. Luo Yao has no such grand ambitions; he simply wants to protect his family. He doesn't want to lose everything he's lost and regained, nor does he want more children to lose their loved ones to war like he did.

Perhaps none of these identities belonged to him, but for the first time, Luo Yao felt such a strong sense of belonging, and this was the first time he had such a strong desire. Perhaps he was as insignificant as a speck of dust, a lonely soul in this world, his existence meaningless to the world, but no matter how insignificant he was, he still had small wishes. Some things must be done to know if they have any meaning.

In the afternoon, the sky cleared up after nearly a month of rain. A horse-drawn carriage and a donkey-drawn cart drove out of the shady side of Daci Mountain and into the village fields.

On the cart, a young man with shoulder-length hair lay on his back on the soft straw, tilting his head to look at the people busy in the farmland on the side, one foot swinging leisurely.

The overly short hair made the uncles and aunts in the field look up frequently. The boy took the hairband and tied his hair skillfully without any concern.

He tilted his head and asked the young man driving the donkey cart: "A Xian, when you were training with your master before, did you travel around to practice?"

The wind was so strong that the boy named Ah Xian couldn't hear clearly and shouted: "Master, what did you say? I didn't hear you!"

The boy repeated it loudly. The wind blew up some straws and covered his face. He spat a few times, shook his messy hair, and hooked his hair behind his ears.

A few straws were swept into the blue sky, and the uncles working in the fields behind them were left far behind...